Rationalism In Gothic Tales Analysis

1301 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Strengths and weaknesses of rationalism

Glendy Jimenez
ENC 1102H
April 28, 2014
Rationalism vs. Irrationalism in Gothic Tales
Over the course of time, there have been many famous books where the characters portray rationality and irrationality to the fullest. The idea of rationalism literature began in the eighteenth century and it was a product of the Enlightenment era. It stressed the rational trend of the period and the attitude that reason and judgment should be the guide to everyday life. Meanwhile, the realist novels in the Age of Reason became the respectable form of literature with its attempts to represent the world from an objective perspective. From this era, sprang a new particular view about the world as a reaction against the Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason. Romantics valued intense emotion and showed more imagination and enjoyment. This period gave birth to Gothic literature, which riddles with the conflicts between rational and irrational. In these traditions, irrational usually refers to instances in which conventional societal roles are broken. This Gothic concept of the battle between the intellectual and rational self and the irrational and the supernatural is portrayed in novels and short stories such as The Castle of Otrento, House of Usher, Imp of the Perverse, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Horace Walpole’s, The Castle of Otranto, is regarded as the first gothic novel. It laid down many of the plot devices and characteristics that would become typical of the Gothic such as castles, decay of humanity, rough landscapes, and hidden identities. One of the things Walpole tried to do with this story was to blend it Romance of the rime and shift it towards an idea of mystery, hidden passages, ghosts, and the darker side of human ...

... middle of paper ...

... will once again be able to deal with the subject on an intellectual manner. Also, Hyde is the representation of irrationality since he has an unexplainable air of evil and “gives a strong feeling of deformity” (Stevenson 11). This idea of deformity of the unknown is what fuels the power of the supernatural over the natural. In fact, the death of Dr. Lanyon, who is in the story the embodiment of rationalism, represents the victory that the supernatural has over the logical. However, at the end rationality proves greater since Jeckyll and Hyde die, and Utterson the personification of reason is left behind to fix the mess. This story also explores the dualism in human nature and the battle between rational thought and man’s irrational animal nature. In fact, Stevenson displays Hyde as animalistic since he is hairy and acts according to instinct rather than reason.

Show More
Related

  • Literary Techniques In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    The criticism by Vladimir Nabokov, supports the claim that Stevenson uses symbolisms to express ideas and to create suspense. Finally Stevenson’s certain tone when he describes Hyde or the evil things the Hyde commit allowed him to express Hyde’s evil and created an unusual atmosphere. When Hyde was described he was described as small and the facial expression of his was very odd and hard to explain “Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with some sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering somewhat broken voice” (Stevenson 16). After Utterson’s first encounter with Hyde, he is just amazed and shocked because of Hyde’s physical appearance. Also in their first encounter, the setting was very dark and gloomy which adds to the claim. Also the description of Hyde symbolizes Hyde’s evil. Hyde’s ugliness and his deformed face symbolizes his evil, his small size symbolize Jekyll’s evil side inside him that was repressed for so long along with the dark setting. Another symbolism used in the book is between Jekyll’s laboratory and his house. Jekyll’s house is described as a place of wealth and comfort but his laboratory is described as “a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the streets” (Stevenson 6). The wealthy house represents the respectable man Jekyll and the laboratory represents the corrupt Hyde. Normal people will not see the two structures as one just like how they won’t be able to see the relationship between Hyde and

    Read More

  • Comparing Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher and Taylor’s Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    Various authors develop their stories using gothic themes and characterizations of this type to lay the foundation for their desired reader response. Although Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Peter Taylor’s “Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time” are two completely different narratives, both of these stories share a commonality of gothic text representations. The stories take slightly different paths, with Poe’s signifying traditional gothic literature and Taylor approaching his story in a more contemporary manner.

    Read More

  • The Gothic Tradition in Stoker's Dracula and Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray

    2369 Words  | 5 Pages

    Gothic Literature was a natural progression from romanticism, which had existed in the 18th Century. Initially, such a ‘unique’ style of literature was met with a somewhat mixed response; although it was greeted with enthusiasm from members of the public, literary critics were much more dubious and sceptical.

    Read More

  • Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    2677 Words  | 6 Pages

    To conclude the way that Stevenson has described Hyde and what Jekyll has done in most parts he has related it to the devil which in Victorian times was considered very dangerous, even though today he’s not considered that powerful it would still make a big impact. Stevenson has been successful in using many elements of a shocker/thriller to write a novella with a much deeper moral significance because every aspect of the story relates back to the Victorian morals of 1837 till 1901 and for a 21st century reader some parts of the novella will make them think what is really happening around them now and whether it is right or not!

    Read More

  • Jekyll And Hyde Duality Essay

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stevenson focuses on two different characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but in reality these are not separate men, they are two different aspects of one man’s reality. In the story, Dr. Je...

    Read More

  • Marxist Theory and Class Relations in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    Within the text of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson portrays a complex power struggle between Dr. Jekyll, a respected individual within Victorian London society, and Mr. Hyde a villainous man tempted with criminal urges, fighting to take total control of their shared body. While Dr. Jekyll is shown to be well-liked by his colleagues, Mr. Hyde is openly disliked by the grand majority of those who encounter him, terrified of his frightful nature and cruel actions. Throughout Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson portrays the wealthy side of London, including Mr. Utterson and Dr. Jekyll, as respected and well-liked, while showing the impoverish side as either non-existent or cruel.

    Read More

  • Kathy Prendergast 'Introduction To The Gothic Tradition'

    1523 Words  | 4 Pages

    In what follows, my research paper will rely on an article by Kathy Prendergast entitled “Introduction to The Gothic Tradition”. The significance of this article resides in helping to recapitulate the various features of the Gothic tradition. In this article the authoress argues that in order to overturn the Enlightenment and realistic literary mores, many of the eighteenth century novelists had recourse to traditional Romantic conventions in their works of fiction, like the Arthurian legendary tales (Prendergast).

    Read More

  • Stevenson's Use of Literary Techniques to Portray Evil in Jekyll and Hyde

    3971 Words  | 8 Pages

    Stevenson’s most prominent character in the story is the mysterious Mr Hyde. Edward Hyde is introduced from the very first chapter when he tramples a young girl in the street, which brings the reader’s attention straight to his character. The reader will instantly know that this person is a very important part of this book and that he plays a key role in the story. This role is the one of a respectable old man named Dr Jekyll’s evil side or a ‘doppelganger’. This links in with the idea of duality. Dr Jekyll is described as being ‘handsome’, ‘well-made’ and ‘smooth-faced’. On the other hand, Mr Hyde is described as being ‘hardly human’, ‘pale and dwarfish’, giving of an impression of deformity and ‘so ugly that it brought out the sweat on (Mr Enfield) like running’! These words all go together to conjure up an image in the mind of an animal, beast or monster. During the novel...

    Read More

  • Examples Of Barbarity In Frankenstein

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores

    Read More

  • Suspense In "The Last Night"

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stevenson had already created suspense before the chapter had begun through the knowledge we have of Mr Hyde. His character we know of links in to the ideas of Darwin. “And this was more of a dwarf”, Hyde is described as a dwarfish and primitive person, this Links in to the ideas of Darwin of how cave men evolved from apes and how we evolved from cave men. The fear of the Victorians is that since man had evolved from animals he has the same lack of control over emotions as animals.

    Read More

  • How does Mary Shelley use Gothic Conventions in Frankenstein?

    2545 Words  | 6 Pages

    The inclusions of gothic conventions of the same variety create a gothic genre for the novel. The use of the weather in the form of pathetic fallacies is particularly important in the way this forms the novel to be gothic. As the description of the weather evokes an atmosphere of suspense and the many connotations associated to the weather in particular the stereotype...

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Fall Of The House Of Usher And House Taken Over

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Word by word, gothic literature is bound to be an immaculate read. Examining this genre for what it is could be essential to understanding it. “Gothic” is relating to the extinct East Germanic language, people of which known as the Goths. “Literature” is defined as a written work, usually with lasting “artistic merit.” Together, gothic literature combines the use of horror, death, and sometimes romance. Edgar Allan Poe, often honored with being called the king of horror and gothic poetry, published “The Fall of House Usher” in September of 1839. This story, along with many other works produced by Poe, is a classic in gothic literature. In paragraph nine in this story, one of our main characters by the name of Roderick Usher,

    Read More

  • Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel about dual identity, Dr. Henry Jekyll, an affluent surgeon, creates a potion by which he can transform into Edward Hyde, the physical manifestation of his evil side. After many months of thrilling nighttime criminal escapades through the streets of London, his antics under the cloak of Hyde get him in trouble when he slays prominent public figure Danvers Carew. Jekyll is so shocked by this deed of evil that he decides an end will be put to his transformations, a science he calls transcendental medicine. Much to his alarm, Jekyll finds that he now turns into Hyde without his wanting it, undeniably a side effect of the drug. After locking himself into his cabinet, in order to facilitate his use of the drug in case of spontaneous transformations, his concerned butler Poole alerts good friend Gabriel Utterson, a lawyer. Together, they break into the cabinet, only to find they body of Hyde, lifeless on the floor. The pair finds an envelope addressed to Utterson which shall supposedly explain why they cannot find the body of Henry Jekyll.

    Read More

  • Gothic Theme in Chapter 5 of Frankenstein

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    The term ‘Gothic’ conjures a range of possible meanings, definitions and associations. It explicitly denotes certain historical and cultural phenomena. Gothicism was part of the Romantic Movement that started in the eighteenth century and lasted about three decades into the nineteenth century. For this essay, the definition of Gothic that is applicable is: An 18th century literary style characterized by gloom and the supernatural. In the Gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, a wide range of issues are explored. Frankenstein represents an entirely new vision of the female Gothic, along with many other traditional themes such as religion, science, colonialism and myth.

    Read More

  • Psychoanalyticism In The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” depicted many aspects of psychoanalytical and biographical references in which moral choice played a role in the transformation between Jekyll into Hyde a cycle of identity disorder. “Stevenson thoughts at this time was the duality of man 's nature and alternation of good and evil” (77) states Graham Balfour representing how Jekyll morally distinguishes what his foil persona commits as wrong, but evil wins the battle conquering the goodness within himself. The image of god and satan correlate into their human characteristics one presents the righteousness of good will meanwhile evil is exposed inconsistently. In the end Hyde 's evil persona lies beneath Jekyll knowing that in an attempt of suicide Hyde will get destroyed. Ironically Jekyll 's given up his life, but Hyde regains dominance so that his body would be found. The historical victorian era in which the novels was written reveals how immoral life was lived in reality a way in which Stevenson used the protagonists Jekyll and Hyde “Hide” to fit his

    Read More

More about Rationalism In Gothic Tales Analysis

Open Document